One of the keys to the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge’s long-term success will be leverage. How will states and the federal government leverage a relatively small amount of money, $500 million, to support systemic changes in early education across the country?

On Friday, the First Five Years Fund and BUILD took a step to help by announcing the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative, which will offer states technical assistance with RTTT applications and help develop strategies to support long-term funding and policies.

Technical assistance appears to be a big need, and the consortium will create webinars for states on core topics, such as school readiness, and provide individualized aid, such as expert feedback on application drafts, according to Kathy Glazer, state services director at BUILD.               

“And states that receive the most intensive TA (technical assistance) will also participate in an in-person meeting with peer states and early learning and education reform visionaries and content experts,” Glazer wrote in an email.

But, the consortium has more ambitious goals.

“We are committed to working with many partners to ensure that the Early Learning Challenge makes an invaluable and lasting contribution to efforts to create an early learning system that meets the needs of our youngest and most vulnerable children. This will include early education and K-12 leaders, experts and visionaries,” First Five Years Fund executive director Cornelia Grumman wrote on her group’s blog.

Will Longitudinal Data Be the Biggest Part of RTTT? Education Week has an interesting storyon the Race to the Top’s push to improve longitudinal data in early learning.

Experts say projects likely to give the most bang for the buck include building and coordinating state data systems to track children from early-childhood programs into elementary school and beyond, creating and expanding quality-rating and improvement systems for child-care providers, and strengthening the use of assessments to measure both individual children’s progress and the caliber of the programs they attend. –“States Face Challenges in Early-Ed. Race to Top Scramble,” Education Week. 7/12/11.